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Dramatic LiteratureGreek TheatreChapter 7.1: Classical Greek Tragedy (Early Greek Tragedy and **Aeschylus**)SophoclesOedipus
MaskTragedy168.jpg


Aristotle's Six Elements of Tragedy
from Poetics


History of Theatre 2 -
Development of Classical Greek Tragedy
Structure of Greek Tragedy:

  1. Late point of attack
  2. Violence and death offstage (Sophocles's Ajax is an exception)
  3. Frequent use of messengers to relate information
  4. Usually continuous time of action (except Aeschylus's Eumenides)
  5. Usually single place (except Ajax)
  6. Stories based on myth or history, but varied interpretations of events
  7. Focus is on psychological and ethical attributes of characters, rather than physical and sociological.